I heard a great interview with Tom Geoghegan on NPR yesterday. In it, he spoke about the benefits of Europe's more relaxed take on the work week. Specifically, he mentioned that while France and Germany have a lower GDP per capita, their workers surely enjoy a higher standard of living. However, what I found especially interesting was the notion that government-protected time away from work and pensions improves both productivity and ingenuity by permitting workers to feel secure in their livelihood, thereby permitting them to pursue creative interests. The average workweek in the US keeps going up and, as Krugman has recently pointed out, the average life expectancy for people at the top of the income bracket has grown at a dramatically faster rate than it has for people at the lower end of the income bracket. That is to say, people are working harder and not everyone is reaping the benefits. Of those low wage workers who will toil for longer days and more years, how many have passions, interests, and important ideas that will never be pursued? For our janitors, does the country benefit from another hour of cleaning or an hour of them taking care of their family, ensuring their kids get to and from school safely, and learning something new that they are interested in? Why are the calls for innovation never accompanied by the calls for more free time and government support?

Anyway, another thing that really struck me was that the discussion about being consumed by your work at the expense of creative downtime sounded an awful lot like this NY Times article about the effect of multitasking on creativity and cognitive functioning.

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.

These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.

The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people like Mr. Campbell, these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.

Surely always being worried about work, spending longer periods of time in the office, and constantly checking your iPhone or Blackberry has a similar effect. I am not saying they are the same problem, but they certainly seem to produce similar results.